The Best Way Out
by Chibi Hinata aka Padfoot T
Summary: R for somewhat dark situations... and contains a little language. Haruka can't remember anything? And who is this Michiru person everybody keeps mentioning? Will Haruka just take the man's advice, and take the 'best way out'?


I don't know why I wrote this... But then again, I don't normally have reasons for much of my work.   


**The Best Way Out**   


I woke up feeling like I'd been hit over the head with a baseball bat. Everything in the room was dark. I blinked a few times to adjust my eyes. How did I get here? I figured the best way to figure that out was to remember where I remembered being last. But... I couldn't. My mind was completely blank. Well then, who was I with? I couldn't remember that, either. I racked my brain harder to try to figure it out. I knew I had to figure this out. I knew I could, because I was... wait a minute, who was I? Oh my god, I couldn't even remember who I was! What was wrong with me?! 

"Heh, so you're finally awake, are you?" a voice asked. I looked up to see a rather dirty looking man. For some reason, the look of him made my blood boil with anger. 

I meant to demand who he was, but instead I demanded, "Who am I!?" He laughed. I couldn't believe he laughed. 

"Well now, even a senshi idiot such as yourself should have the smarts to figure that out. Say, do you even remember what you look like?" 

Thinking so hard it actually hurt, I couldn't remember. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was a girl, and even that I didn't know how I knew without actually checking (a/n: shaddap!). For some reason, my hand went to my head. Short hair. I had short hair... very short hair. Why, though? It must make me look like a guy. I felt my ears. Two earrings. That was all I could tell by touch. My hair was too short for me to see the color, and I obviously couldn't see my eye color unless I had a mirror. But, senshi idiot? He had called me a soldier. Just what kind of soldier was a girl? I looked down to see a bluish colored fuku (a/n: hers is blue in the manga ^ _ ^), and as I felt my waist, I found a sword. A very pretty one too, I might add. I turned it over, looking at the handle, which glistened with jewels. 

"Can't remember, can you? I must have given you a good dose after all." It was that man again. Taunting me. Did he actually know who I was? Or was he just some insane person taking whatever hostage he could get? And what was with the fuku and my sword? Had I been in a play or something, or were they really mine? Was I really a soldier, or was this man just playing with my mind? 

"Well, may I ask you a few questions, then?" the man asked. Since I probably couldn't answer them anyway, and he knew it, I wanted to refuse. But I said nothing, and he started asking questions anyway. 

"What all can you remember about yourself?" 

"Nothing." 

"Where do you live?" 

"I... I don't know." 

"What's the first color that comes to your mind?" 

Suddenly, there was a question I could answer. I barely had to think, although I wondered why. 

"Aqua." 

He chuckled to himself. "My my, even with amnesia you still think about your little... eh... friend." 

"What does that mean!? You do know a lot about me, don't you!?" 

"I know a few things." 

"Like what!?" 

"You thought if you surrendered to me in place of your Michiru, that you'd survive. But this is even better than you being dead. You can't remember a single thing!" 

Michiru? Why did that name sound so familiar to me!? I felt as though I'd never known the person in my whole life, but that I'd spoke their name over a million times. That they meant something to me. And they must... I surrendered to this guy? Over this Michiru person? 

"Who is Michiru!?" I demanded. He shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that," he said, smirking at the look of frustration on my face. 

"At least tell me my name," I finally pleaded. He sighed. "Well, I guess I can tell you that, but only senshi name." He waited a long time, the look of anticipation on my face seemed to make his smirk... well... smirkier. "Uranus. They call you Uranus." 

Uranus!? Why would someone want to be called that? Uranus is... its... a... country? Er, no... city! No, that wasn't it either... Then it clicked. "But Uranus is a planet!" I exclaimed. 

"Good for you, you know about your solar system." 

"Why would they call me that!?" 

"I'll let you figure that one out on your own." 

By now, I was getting irritated. The only things I knew about myself were that people called me Uranus, I had short hair, I had pierced ears, I was some type of soldier, and I knew someone named Michiru. And not even any of this made sense to me. In my anger, I screamed out loud and pounded my fist to the cold concrete floor. 

That stupid man started laughing again. "Here's something that may help you." He threw something down to me, and it landed on the hard floor with a loud clank. I picked it up. It was a gun. "Here," he said, throwing me a bullet, "Pretty easy way out, huh? Probably the best way, too. You won't have to worry about who you are or who you know, because you'll be dead. Be the man you think you are, and kill yourself. It only takes one bullet, and that one bullet costs hardly anything compared to the suffering you're going through in your head." 

I thought about it. He was right. It was the best way out. But what about my family? What if I had one? I could have a husband, I could have kids! I couldn't just *leave* them! But, what if I didn't? What if I was a lonely person, with lots of debts and no real reason to live anyway? What about... what about Michiru? 

Wait a minute, why was I thinking about this Michiru person all of a sudden? And who was she? A sister? A cousin? A daughter? A friend? Ugh, this was starting to irritate me. 

I angrily loaded the gun, and stopped thinking about any family or friends I might have. Who cares? What would they want with a person who can't even remember her own name, anyway? Who's only color they can think of is aqua? Who can't remember where she lives, or what she looks like? 

But then I thought back. After I had said aqua, he mentioned a... little friend? What was that supposed to mean? Was this Michiru my friend? 

No. This man could have been lying to me. Michiru probably didn't even exist. Aqua probably met nothing at all. He probably even made up the soldier thing and the part about me being called Uranus. 

That was when the door (which I had not known was there) burst open. There was a loud gasp from the bunch of girls that entered, and the one guy that entered just opened his mouth, speechless. One girl covered her mouth and looked like she was about to cry. She ran right back out the door, followed by another girl with very long hair, screaming, "No, Neptune! Wait!" A girl with very funny pigtails in the front choked out, "U-uranus?!" 

Who _were _these people? Why were they so shocked to see me? 

"Stupid moon twit, it's no use. This idiot here can't even remember her name, how is she going to remember you?" It was that damn man again. 

"You took away her memories!? You bastard!!!" another girl with longer dark hair yelled. 

The darkness of the room was getting on my nerves; I could hardly tell what colors anybody was wearing. I could only see shadows of whites and blacks and grays, not any real colors. 

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Let her remember who she was, so she'd have half a mind to kill me right away? You're very funny. But, she's probably going to do the job very soon--to herself." 

"We won't let her!!!! We searched for her for over a week... We thought she was long gone! And now we find her here, completely bruised and beaten, with no memories at all! Did you really think we wouldn't want her anymore!?" that same freaky haired girl exclaimed. 

"THIS IS IT!!!! I'm sick of all you people! I don't even know any of you! I'm out!!!" I screamed, and picked up the gun. 

"No... Haruka, don't do it! We... we can get your memories back. We'll help you! and you can't just... just... die! Just like that! What about your family?" It was that girl. She must have been their leader or something. 

"Family? I have a family?" I asked shakily. 

"Yes, you have a family! Think about them! Your daughter, your best friend! And most of all, Michiru! She's been dead since she's thought you died! Now that she knows you're still alive, do you think she wants you dead again, but this time for real!?" 

"**_Who is this *Michiru* person already!?! _**Everyone keeps *talking* about her and stuff, but I HAVE NO IDEA WHO SHE IS!!!!!!" 

The two people who had left before walked back into the doorway. The shorter one was looking at me with shock on her face. She wiped a tear from her cheek. "No, Haruka... Please, don't do it! I... I need you alive, if you remember who I am or not..." 

"_You're _Michiru? You... you have aqua hair! That must be where aqua came from... But... Who are you to me? And everyone keeps calling me Haruka. Is Haruka my name?" 

"No!!!" the man screamed. "Don't tell her her full name!" He shouted some words I didn't really understand, and threw a ball of energy at the Michiru person, then quickly another at the group of other girls, knocking everybody back. 

Michiru was the first to get back up, fierce determination on her face. She did the same thing the man had done, only different words. The others soon followed suit, and then the leader did some thing with a wand or something, knocking the man out. 

"Quick! He's just unconscious! Someone has to carry Uranus, I don't think she has the strength to stand... Jupiter, you're the only person that can do that!" A girl with longer dark hair that was tied back nodded, and picked me up--first firing the gun at the empty wall and dropping it. "I can't have you using that on anybody or yourself. But just wait, when we get back you'll remember everything." 

*** 

They took me to somebody's house (which looked more like a temple to me, but I didn't say anything), and laid me down on the bed. That was the first time I realized how much I hurt all over. There were cuts on my arms, my legs, and my stomach. I had bruises everywhere, and I had a black eye. 

Michiru was tending to me. She wouldn't look at me, though. 

"I'm sorry... I... I can't look at you, not in the eyes. You're so hurt and in so much pain, plus it pains me that you can't remember me." 

Who was this girl to me?! I still wanted to know. When I looked at her, it seemed I almost remembered who she was... who I was. 

"Please... tell me who you are! Tell me who I am! I need to know! Looking at you makes me almost remember, but then I can't! Its irritating!" 

That was it. I'd done something wrong, because this girl started crying. She hugged me, being careful to avoid my wounds. "I can't keep it in any longer... Ai shiteru, Haruka Mitaki Ten'ou! Please remember!" 

Something snapped. Hearing my name, I started to remember everything. 

"Oh my god!!! Michiru, I'm so sorry!!!" 

"You... you remember?" she asked, tears still fresh on her face. 

"Yes, I'm so sorry! I didn't... I can't believe..." 

Wiping her tears away, she hugged me again. "Shhh, Haruka... It's okay... You're back now, that's all that matters. Just don't _ever_ do that to me again! You scared me so much..." 

"I'm still sorry, I can't believe I didn't remember you!" 

"It's okay, it's okay... Just get some rest though, please... for me." 

"If you say so... Ai shiteru, Michiru."   
  
  


A/N: Okay, so that wasn't that bad, I don't think. And no, Haruka's middle name probably isn't really Mitaki. I just made it up for the sake of the story. Please review! 


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